Fiscal Cliff Capitulation Includes Payoff to Hollywood

Hollyweird doesn’t back Obama to the hilt out of sheer moral depravity alone. Loyal support buys it a lucrative seat at the table:

Section 317 of the freshly approved [fiscal cliff] legislation includes an extension for “special expensing rules for certain film and television productions.” Congress first enacted production tax incentives favorable to the domestic entertainment industry in 2004, and extended them in 2008, but the deal was meant to expire in 2011.

The fiscal cliff deal extends the tax incentives through 2013 — even as payroll taxes rise on ordinary Americans.

Unlike the normal Americans who are getting bled dry, Tinseltown doesn’t need the money. Ticket sales for 2012 were projected to reach an all-time high of $10.8 billion. But then, the federal government is raking in far more astonishingly excessive revenues; that doesn’t mean it won’t take more yet if it finds us unable to defend our property.